The present invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus for content which records a content distributed through a communication medium such as a broadcast wave or network and which reproduces the recorded content. More particularly, the present invention realizes an improvement in the usability in the case where a plurality of users use the same apparatus.
By the spread of broadband lines to the home, a network environment in which large capacity content (information content) centered at videos and music is capable of being distributed to the home without stress is being equipped in recent years. Also, in parallel with the advance of a compression technology and a distribution technology of contents, the contents can be distributed to the home while maintaining its high quality.
Meanwhile, in the homes, not only in personal computers but also in home electric appliances such as a TV set and a hard disc recorder, a device with a network connection function is increasing, and also a device which obtains and uses contents distributed through the broadband line is increasing. Along with progress of a compression technology and distribution technology of the above-described contents and increase in a reproduction device connected to a network within the home, a content distribution service which distributes contents to the above-described reproduction devices and collects a usage charge (view charge) of the contents from users is realized.
A content distribution method through a network is roughly divided into two methods.
One method is a streaming system where a reproducing device obtains content data from a network and sequentially reproduces the obtained content data. The streaming system needs no data accumulation function in the reproducing device except for a unit (e.g., a buffer memory) for temporarily holding data during from the acquisition from a network up to the reproduction. Further, since a user can appoint contents and instantly start reproduction, the streaming system is characterized by the simplicity of mounting and usage.
Another method is a download system where a reproducing device collectively obtains content data from a network to accumulate the obtained content data in a data accumulation function, and reproduces the data after completion of the accumulation. The reproducing device needs a large capacity data accumulation function for maintaining the entire content, such as a hard disc drive (HDD), and has the following advantages as compared with the streaming system.    (1) High-quality contents which do not depend on quality or bandwidth of a network can be provided.    (2) Content reproduction quality is not deteriorated due to the lack of content data.    (3) A reproduction operation (trick play) within a content such as a fast-forward operation, a rewinding operation, and a cue operation is easy.    (4) Dubbing (copying) of a content to another medium is easy.
Therefore, the download system is being adopted in a content distribution service putting an emphasis on quality of the content.
In the download system, a service called a cell in which a content with no viewing period (indefinite period) is bought and can be viewed at any time is generally used in addition to a service called a so-called rental where a content with a viewing period is bought to be viewed. The user can select a service in accordance with a utilization feature of himself or herself. Incidentally, a service disclosed in “http://actvila.jp/pdf/press—20081210.pdf “A world first download distribution service of High Definition video capable of dubbing to a Blu-ray disc is started by “TSUTAYA TV on acTVila””” is one example of the download service.
By using the above-described service, the environment in which a plurality of contents are simply bought at any time to download the contents is ready also in the home. However, in this environment, a user may forget to view the purchased and downloaded content at a later date, or fail to know that another user purchases content and purchase the same content again.
In JP-A-2004-234272 (corresponding to U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/146966), a method in which a device (client) detects a duplicate purchase to notify a user of the duplicate purchase is disclosed with respect to the above-described problem.